John Kirby, a senior US Pentagon official, told a news conference that the discussions with Turkey about a safe zone focused on a 110km stretch of land still under ISIL control. U.S. officials have feared being drawn further into the four-year-long Syrian civil war.
Advertisement
Mr Davutoglu, who has said the operations will continue as long as Turkey faces a threat, discussed security with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a telephone call overnight.
Though the U.S. insists that the plan is meant as a move against IS and not one against Assad, the majority of Turkish and Syrian insurgents prioritize toppling Assad’s regime in Syria over scaling back the Islamic State.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is not involved in operations against ISIL, although many of its members are.
But the zone being talked about by the Turks not only includes towns of strategic and symbolic importance for the Islamic State group, but also towns such as al-Bab, which has been targeted by Syrian helicopters and warplanes, risking clashes with the Syrian government.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday that “safe zones will be formed naturally” as swathes of northern Syria are cleared of IS militants as a result.
The PKK has fought Turkey for autonomy for Kurds in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.
Ege Seckin, a Turkey expert at IHS Country Risk, said IS is a national security threat for Turkey, but was nonetheless secondary. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
Ertu?rul Kürkçü, honorary president of the pro-Kurdish Turkish HDP Party, said the strikes against the PKK were “not an actual security measure against the Turkish guerrillas”, but rather “preparing the ground for early elections”. They were about to deliver aid across the border to Kurds in Syria’s Kobane.
But there is concern that sustained attacks could cause a rift with Kurdish regional authorities in Iraq, a key partner in fighting the Islamic State inside that country.
The zone’s proposed area would extend along a 68-mile stretch of the Turkish border and reach 40 miles into Syrian territory, west of the Euphrates River, and into the province of Aleppo, say Turkish officials.
“The Syrian Kurds are not a target of the operations”.
The Syrian Kurds, “along with others, remains outside the scope of the current military effort”.
The YPG did not say in its Monday statement whether there were casualties in the shelling.
“We urge [the] Turkish leadership to halt this aggression and to follow global guidelines”. Conflicting reports are common in the aftermath of violent incidents.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned on Monday its military campaign against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) separatists and Islamic State (IS) jihadists could “change the balance” in the region. US officials have described Syrian Kurdish forces as some of the best ground forces against ISIL.
Davutoglu also said Turkey wanted to clear its border of Islamic State extremists.
Advertisement
“We don’t want to see Daesh at our border”, Hurriyet quoted Davutoglu as saying, using the Arabic acronym of the group. It has also carried out widespread police operations against suspected Kurdish and ISIL militants and other outlawed groups inside Turkey. The agreement will allow U.S. planes to take off from Turkey in exchange for U.S. help in insulating Turkey from the escalating violence in Syria. This was the first time the Turkish military has taken direct action against the terrorist group.
